DANBURY, CT—The Danbury Westerners took Game 1 of 3 against the Ocean State Waves 8-4 before dropping the following two games 4-1 and 11-4 in a tripleheader at Rogers Park.
Danbury (17-15) scored four runs in the eighth and ninth innings to finish Game 1, a game suspended in a 4-4 tie while Ocean State (14-20) scored 15 runs in 14 innings afterward thanks to four home runs.
Game 1 picked up in the bottom of the sixth inning with a 4-4 tie and Ocean State at the plate with a man on first.
John Anderson broke the tie for Danbury in the top of the eighth with a solo home run to left-center field. The Westerners then added three more runs in the ninth inning on a Jack Payton two-RBI single and an Andrew Jenkins RBI double to put away the Waves on offense 9-4 behind four innings of one-hit baseball from Renn Lints.
The Waves got back in the scoring column first in the top of the third in Game 2 with two home runs. Daniel Baruch lined a solo shot off of the foul pole in right while Travis Honeyman moved a ball onto Memorial Drive with a two-run shot of his own.
Danbury got a run back in the bottom half of the inning. Justin Jordan lined a ball into center field that looked like a sure single before it rolled to the wall after Ocean State’s center fielder Albert Choi slipped. Jordan later scored on an RBI double from John Anderson to get Danbury on the board. Cam Masterman tried to bring Anderson home but the inning ended after a jumping catch at the wall in right by Casey Dana. After a brief ump review after Danbury suggested that the ball could have bounced off of a banner, the call stood.
Both teams remained scoreless for the next three innings until Daniel Baruch slapped his second home run of the game to right field off of Noah Jensen to make the game 4-1 Ocean State in the top of the seventh. Game 2 ended for Danbury on a called strike three with a loss to even the day’s series at 1-1 going into Game 3.
The third game started at 7:16 PM and Danbury struck first on a bases-loaded hit by pitch to Jake Roper. Danbury left the bases stranded after a strikeout to end the inning.
Will Gersky doubled Danbury’s lead in the bottom of the third to 2-0 with a no-doubt solo home run to left from Will Gersky, bat flip and all.
Albert Choi put Ocean State in front in the top of the fourth with a three-run home run off of Danbury starter Sean Hogan.
A seven-run top of the fifth inning then took place for the Ocean State Waves. Slade Wilks started with a two-run home run to Memorial Drive off of Michael Farinelli. Alex Ramirez had a two-RBI single. Two more runs scored for the Waves on a passed ball while Luis Atiles brought in another on an RBI single of his own.
Jake Roper had an RBI single in the bottom half of the fifth while Justin Kapuscinski had an RBI 6-4-3 double play.
Dylan Baruch had an RBI double to make the score 11-4 in the top of the sixth; and while Danbury first baseman Andrew Jenkins pitched a scoreless seventh, the game would end in an 11-4 Ocean State victory.
The Danbury Westerners travel to Mystic tonight to take on the Schooners with a 6:05 start time. The game will be live streamed on the NECBL Network.
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